[press release]

The Davidoff Art Initiative (DAI) is pleased to announce the 2016 launch of the second Davidoff Limited Art Edition featuring a specially commissioned video work by artist Olivia McGilchrist. The DAI will offer an exclusive preview of the single-channel video, titled “From Many Sides”, at the Moving Image Art Fair from March 36, 2016 in New York City.

As a Jamaican- French artist and videographer, Olivia McGilchrist’s work is rooted in a Caribbean- centered, multi-media art practice that couples new technology with local platforms to explore contemporary cultural connections from the African Diaspora. By interweaving moving images and sounds, the artist suffuses the natural world with new meanings and colors that capture profound narratives about the history of the Caribbean. from many sides utilizes digitized renderings to create an immersive, multi-sensory experience that blends landscapes, cultures, stories and people of the Caribbean region and highlights the rich heritage of the region through a variety of content unique to local experiences, reworked and presented as an interactive work of art.

Olivia McGilchrist, “From Many Sides”, video still, 2015.

“My recent creative practice is deeply inspired by a longing to reconnect with my birth land as well as the cultural space of the Caribbean,” said artist Olivia McGilchrist, who was born in Jamaica and moved to Europe when she was three. “My education abroad awarded me the opportunity to learn new media technology platforms but I also had access to local art hubs and traditional artistic practices when I returned home to Jamaica. Because of the duality on my experiences, I aspire to create artwork that overturns biographical or social expectations through a Caribbean-centered, multi- media arts practice.”

Davidoff has an established history of engaging artists and designers for special editions. Launched in 2012, the Davidoff Art Initiative was designed to build more visibility and recognition for art and artists in the Caribbean. In addition to offering residencies and grants, as well as organizing dialogues to garner appreciation for Caribbean art, the DAI produced the first Limited Art Edition cigar box in 2014, featuring the work of Cuban-born artist Quisqueya Henríquez.

“Davidoff is continuously looking for new ways to engage with and support contemporary art. The Limited Art Edition supports the DAI’s mission of familiarizing the international audience with artists from the Caribbean and it helps fund the Davidoff Art Initiative at the same time ,” said Hans-Kristian Hoejsgaard, CEO Oettinger Davidoff AG. “Olivia’s video work is a fascinating visual blend of regionally specific elements. Because crafting and blending are the same values at the heart of everything we do, we feel that Davidoff is perfectly matched with this extraordinary artist. ”

The Limited Art Edition 2016 will be produced in an edition of 7,000 and will include the digital work of video art on carrier media with custom-made cigars designed specifically for the project. A highly limited run of Collectors Editions is also being released. These will include one of sixteen numbered editions of the commissioned video, a unique still image from the video, and a signed certificate by the artist.

Shortly after the premiere at the Moving Image Art Fair in New York, a preview and artist introduction will take place during Art Basel Hong Kong from March 24-26, 2016. Both the Limited Art Edition 2016 and Collectors Edition will be unveiled in June 2016 during Art Basel in Basel, Switzerland.

The 2016 Davidoff Limited Art Editions and Collectors Editions will be available at Davidoff Flagship Stores in the US, Europe and Asia starting June 2016. A percentage of the proceeds from all special art editions will be dedicated to sustaining the Davidoff Art Initiative.

About the Artist

Olivia McGilchrist is a Jamaican-French visual artist whose works explore themes of translocation and issues of Caribbean cultural identity by juxtaposing parallel realities through photographs, video installations and virtual reality. Born in Kingston, Jamaica to a French mother and a Jamaican father, Olivia grew up in France and the UK. In 2010, she completed her Master’s in Photography at the London College of Communication (LCC) and in 2011, she moved back to Kingston to work as a Curator at the National Gallery of Jamaica (NGJ) and to become a Lecturer in Photography and New Media at the Edna Manley College of the Visual and Performing Arts (EMCVPA). Her work has been shown worldwide, including in Jamaica, Trinidad, Barbados, Grenada, Brazil, the US, the UK, and France. In 2013, she won the Trinidad & Tobago film festival and ARC Magazine New Media Prize.

About Davidoff Art Editions

The Davidoff Art Initiative invites contemporary artists from around the world to create special editions related to products of the Davidoff brand. Proceeds from the editions are dedicated to the Davidoff Art Initiative. Selected works from these special editions, along with limited edition prints from artists formerly involved in the Davidoff Art Residency, will be placed in Davidoff’s lounges and stores worldwide with art, making them a showcase for noteworthy creative visionaries of our time.

About the Davidoff Art Initiative

The Davidoff Art Initiative supports contemporary art and artists in the Caribbean, strengthens art organizations in the Dominican Republic, shares knowledge and expertise about contemporary art and fosters cultural engagement between the Caribbean and the rest of the world. At the core of the Art Initiative, Davidoff aims to engage closely with the arts and culture of the Dominican Republic, where much of its production and many of its employees are based, bringing opportunity and visibility to the art and culture of the Caribbean region, and extending the company’s long-standing commitment to artistry, craftsmanship, community and quality. The Davidoff Art Initiative’s four global program areas are: Art Residency, Art Dialogues, Art Grants, and Art Editions. For more information, please visit: davidoffartinitiative.com

About Oettinger Davidoff AG

The CHF 1.23 billion Oettinger Davidoff AG, with over 3,600 employees around the world, traces its roots back to 1875 and remains family owned to this day, with two distinctly different businesses: one that is focused on FMCG distribution in the Swiss market and one dedicated to the core business of producing, marketing and retailing premium branded cigars, tobacco products and accessories. The premium branded cigar business includes Davidoff, AVO, Camacho, Cusano, Griffin’s, Private Stock, Zino and Zino Pl atinum. Oettinger Davidoff AG is anchored in a strong “crop-to-shop” philosophy, having pursued a vertical integration from the tobacco fields in the Dominican Republic, Honduras and Nicaragua to the worldwide network of more than 70 Davidoff Flagship Stores.